Environmental Health & Justice

Environmental health addresses the interrelationship between human health and the environment, and strives to improve the quality of both the natural and built environment. Environmental justice is the understanding that all racial, ethnic, and income groups have the right to equal treatment and protection under environmental statutes, regulations and practices, and that those policies should be consciously designed to protect human health and reduce disparities within and among communities.

CLIMATE CHANGE & GLOBAL WARMING

Over the past several years NMPHA has brought to the membership information and resources regarding the role of public health in climate change and it has become increasingly apparent that climate change is a major public health issue.

In 2005 the Annual NMPHA conference theme was Climate Change. After the conference a this document was produced and is the synthesis of a series of workshops conducted at the the April 2005 annual conference held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM. The opinions and recommendations expressed are those of the membership of NMPHA and meeting attendees. The document was reviewed at the 2006 NMPHA Annual Meeting.

In October 2011 NMPHA was represented by Mallery Downs, NMPHA Co-President Elect at an EPA meeting on environmental justice. The statement provided to EPA is below and states that all uranium mining should be banned to protect the health of New Mexicans. The EPA 2014 Environmental Justice Plan is also posted below.

In 2012 NMPHA responded to a request from NMPHA members to provide a letter in support of the City of Albuquerque to deny a modification to an air permit for industry in the Mountain View community. The letter from NMPHA and the reply from the City are below. The permit was granted.